Setting up a Centrally Managed System

Note: This topic applies to the Framlingham Release.

A centrally managed Smoothwall is comprised of an instance of a Smoothwall product running as a parent node and one or more compatible Smoothwall products running as child nodes, being managed by the parent node.

A centrally managed Smoothwall can be used in either:



A load balancing configuration, for example, for large enterprise networks



A configuration replication environment, for example, in a "head office and branches" network where all Smoothwall nodes must have the same behavior



A status monitoring configuration, where the parent node just monitors the status of all children nodes, and advises when to install updates and releases

The parent node can be used to manage all child nodes in the configuration.

1.

Log in to the instance of Smoothwall you want to function as the parent node.

2.

Go to System > Central management > Settings .

3.

From the Local node options section, select Parent from Node role.

4.

Additional configuration is made available:

•

Central management options > Node identification

This determines how nodes are identified for redirection purposes:

Use individual node settings — Allows each individual node to use their own IP address or hostname.

All nodes use the hostname <hostname> — The hostname specified here is used instead of the individual node's hostname for redirected requests. This overrides the hostname set on the System > Preferences > Hostname page (see Changing the System Hostname).

•

Manage central management keys

Every child node in the same cluster must have the central management key from the parent installed.

Click the Download button to download the key in PEM format. Save the key in a secure, accessible location for distribution to the child nodes.